Student aid may get a big boost
State would broaden eligibility for Cal Grant program amid rising college costs, economic hardship.
Plan would broaden eligibility for the Cal Grant program amid rising college costs.
Nearly 200,000 more California college students could receive state assistance for tuition and living expenses under one of the largest expansions of the Cal Grant financial aid program ever proposed.
The plan, unveiled last week by the California Student Aid Commission and laid out in legislation by Assemblymen Jose Medina (D-Riverside) and Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), would eliminate some requirements for the main Cal Grant award and broaden access to older students and others.
It would also simplify the program and tie eligibility to the federal Pell Grant, which better accounts for the total cost of attendance, including housing, transportation and other expenses.
Currently, applicants for the main Cal Grant must be low- or middle-income, eligible for in-state college tuition, apply by March 2 within a year of high school graduation and have a minimum high school GPA of 3.0.
Eligible community college students, whose annual family incomes are generally below $11,000, receive fee waivers under existing state programs and may receive an annual Cal Grant for living expenses of about $1,650. Students heading to UC and Cal State campuses whose incomes generally fall below $59,000 are guaranteed grants to fully cover tuition and fees, while those at private nonprofit institutions receive awards of up to $9,084. Living expenses for four-year students are partly covered by a Pell Grant and other aid.
The new plan would guarantee grants to all eligible applicants without regard to age, date of high school graduation or, for community college students, GPA. For students at four-year colleges, the plan would drop the required high school GPA from 3.0 to 2.0.
The changes are projected to boost the number of eligible community college students by 124%, to 279,264 from 124,260. Cal Grant award offers at four-year institutions would rise about 30%, to 172,889 students from 132,626.
The proposal comes at a critical time for students struggling under soaring college costs, student loan debt and financial hardship triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The student aid commission last year found that 70% of 76,000 California college students surveyed had lost some or all of their income as a result of the pandemic.
“We really face a serious issue of losing an entire generation of students,” said Marlene Garcia, executive director of the commission. “It’s a milestone moment. If you’re in fact going to support the next-generation workforce with the kinds of talent and skills that we need to fuel the 21st century, mostly automated workplace, we’ve got to invest in students seeking some education beyond high school.”
California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley hailed the plan as an “important first step” but said students need far more support than they are currently receiving.
An analysis by the Institute for College Access and Success found that the net cost of college was higher for students of California Community Colleges in most parts of the state than for those at UC or Cal State, because the four-year systems offer more institutional financial aid. Overall, the total annual cost of attendance for community college students ranges from about $17,000 to $24,900.
“This is a down payment,” Oakley said of the Cal Grant proposal. “We still have a long ways to go to adequately support California Community Colleges students.”